There’s an accepted wisdom in journalism that politicians are fair game. They put themselves up for election, so it’s right their decisions are up for public scrutiny and their skins should be slightly thicker than the average man or woman’s.

In my view it’s perfectly OK to robustly hold them to account, publish criticism of their policies, check out how they’re spending public money and poke a bit of fun at them.

Nowadays social media makes it easy for people to voice their disapproval with a few presses of a mobile phone keypad, and they do so in droves. In fact a lot of my Facebook and Twitter feed is made up of people spouting political views that they wouldn’t dream of sharing at a dinner party.

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It might be a bit of Brexit, which has polarised opinions but the bile level appears to have been ramped up in recent months.

Personally, I think it’s all gone a bit too far because, believe it or not, the vast majority of politicians are in it for the right reasons – especially at a local level.

Recently we had to remove a post from DevonLive.com, where the author had said that a senior councillor had probable been down to Staples to collect brown envelopes. Apart from the fact that this jibe didn’t work brilliantly (surely anyone with enough cash to bribe a politician councillor would also supply their own envelopes) I thought this was a bit uncalled for.

Of all politicians councillors are probably the most hard-working and dedicated to the communities they serve. While MPs spend most of their week in London, councillors face their public every time they step outside their house.

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John Twyford's sharpest comments

They are used to being accosted in the supermarket or high street and many even have their home phone numbers posted online so people can call them any time of the day or night with a petty complaint or serious issue.

Most councillors also have to hold down a full time job - fitting their local authority work into evenings and weekends when most of us are in the pub or catching up with Black Mirror on Netflix. And for this they receive not a salary but a modest allowance.

This week we wrote about the sad death of David Morrish, who exemplified the hard-working and dedicated local politician that we should celebrate rather than denigrate. He was a city and county councillor for an incredible 50 years.

David was straightforward and campaigned on behalf of his constituents with real zeal. His length of service was unusual, but there are plenty of councillors in Devon right now who share his commitment to their communities.

So before you criticise your local authority representative too much, remember they are human beings too, and you can always vote them out.